I Can't Wait to Grow Up
by Destiny919
Summary: When they were children, Mako and Korra made a promise. Ten years later, they find that they still want to fulfill it.


Korra was six. Korra thought the boy next door was alright, as far as boys go. All the other ones, even his five-year-old brother Bolin, tugged on her pigtails and teased her. But Mako wasn't so bad. He smiled at her when she pouted.

Mako was seven. Mako thought the girl next door was alright, as far as girls went. If he ever had to get married like his mom told him he would someday, it'd have to be her 'cuz all the other girls were icky. But he had to smile at Korra when she pouted.

One day they were playing together in Korra's backyard. Bolin had skinned his knee and been taken inside by Korra's mommy. It was just about sunset. Mako had been waiting for his chance for days. Here it was.

"Hey," he said to her. "D'you ever think about getting married like our parents?"

Here it comes, she thought. Since she'd learned what "married" was she'd been waiting for marry Mako, 'cuz Mommy said she should marry her best friend. "Yeah." She got a sly idea. "I think I want to get married to Tahno up the street."

Suddenly Mako was swelling with anger. He wondered if his face was green with jealousy like his mom said.

"No!" Mako burst out.

"Why not?" she asked, feigning genuine curiosity.

"Because you have to marry _me_ when we're grown up!" She did. If Korra married icky Tahno, who would he marry?

Korra giggled. "Okay. When we grow up I'll marry you."

"Good." Mako crossed his arms and looked at the ground. He didn't want her to see him smile.

.

.

A few days later, Mako said to Korra, "I asked my mom and she said we're 'engaged' now. What does that mean?" He didn't really know. He probably should have paid attention to his parents more often.

"It means you have to kiss me and hold my hand," Korra said solemnly.

"Ewww!" squealed Bolin. "Mako you can't kiss Ko'a!"

"Of course he can!" Korra whapped Bolin on the arm, hard, like she always did. "It's okay if you're married!"

"But we're not married yet!" Mako protested. "We're just en-engaged. We can't get married until we're grownups."

Korra pouted. Mako smiled. "Then I can't wait to grow up," she said.

.

.

Korra was seventeen. Korra still lived in the same house next to Mako and Bolin. The promise of ten years ago had been all but forgotten, until the other day, she'd looked at her best friend and noticed how suddenly, he wasn't her shy eight-year-old playmate. He was eighteen, serious, handsome. Practically a man. When he looked at her with that steady gaze, smiled a little bit, she blushed hot.

Mako was eighteen. Mako still lived in the same house with Bolin next to Korra. The promise he'd made Korra give had laid dormant in the back of his mind, but had been remembered recently when he'd looked at his friend and seen not pigtails but a ponytail, and not a small stubborn girl but a beautiful stubborn woman. When she pouted he couldn't smile at her because he couldn't think.

One day, when it was almost summer vacation, almost time for them to graduate high school, they sat together on her family's porch. Bolin was on a date, and the sun was just leaving the sky. It reminded him of the day he'd been thinking of so often, a day long ago and far away, but by no means forgotten. He wondered if she remembered too. He decided to ask.

"Hey, you remember that time, when we were eight – ?"

"You were eight, I was seven," she cut him off. But she could tell Mako had something important to say. She could read him like a book. Her favorite book.

"Right. Yeah, of course. But you remember, one time – it was a lot like this, actually – that we . . . promised to get married?" He chuckled, though he couldn't remember feeling more serious in his life.

"Yes." Korra laughed too. "You got very upset when I said I was going to marry Tahno."

Mako grumbled something unflattering about his famous rival on the lacrosse team at school. "Yeah." He smiled again. "I was totally in love with you."

Korra's cheeks flushed. "I was, too."

"Um, Korra, I – never mind." He couldn't say it.

"What?" she asked. Hope permeated her chest. Just like before, when they were children, she'd been waiting for him to say this.

"I just – I think maybe I never stopped." He smiled, and her heart stopped. "Loving you, that is."

"I never did either," Korra blurted. "I love you, Mako."

"I . . . I love you too."

They both blushed flaming red.

"Um," Korra began, "you can kiss me now."

"Right. Right."

Mako leaned in and oh-so-softly brushed her lips with his. When he pulled back, his face was the softest she'd ever seen it. But soft wasn't really Korra's style. So she grabbed him by his beloved red scarf and tugged his face to hers for a long, deep kiss. "There," she said, satisfied. Mako looked rather dazed. Korra reached over and laced her fingers with his. He squeezed her hand, and the pressure was something she'd been wanting for a long time.

Since about age seven, actually.

"So, you wanna make good on that promise?" she asked.

". . . What, right now?" Mako blinked.

"No, stupid. I'm seventeen." She whapped him on the head with the hand he wasn't holding. "But . . . someday."

"Someday," he agreed. "When we're grown up." He said the words with the hopeful cadence of childhood, and she was once again reminded of that sunny, special afternoon.

"I can't wait to grow up," she said.


End file.
